The Wall Street Journal reports:

It was just after finishing a set of pelvic floor exercises that a Pilates instructor on the Upper East Side recently brought up one of the least popular men in the neighborhood: New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani.

All of a sudden, the class, which costs $50 a pop, became something of a political confab. In between sets, some women strategized about helping former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who they see as more palatable, pull off an upset. Others gushed about a recent New York Post cover depicting Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had recently endorsed Mamdani, as a devotee of Mao Zedong.

New York’s richest residents can’t stop talking about Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. To many of the city’s uber-wealthy, his sustained popularity has been a shock. The 33-year-old, self-described Democratic Socialist is the overwhelming favorite to win City Hall next month, on a platform that includes free buses and free child care—programs that, as the moneyed are well aware, somebody needs to shell out for.

“I hope Mamdani is going to give out free Xanax,” said Caroline Leventhal, a lifelong Upper East Sider who co-founded “Mic’d and Medicated,” a podcast that dissects the lifestyle of cosmetic surgeries and private ski instructors. “It’s hard to be chill and relaxed.”

Lord knows, New York’s titans of business have tried to stop him. They spent months on a loosely coordinated effort to pressure two of the other three candidates—Mayor Eric Adams, who ran as an independent; Cuomo, also an independent; or Republican Curtis Sliwa—to drop out to clear the path for one viable alternative.

Billionaire Bill Ackman backed Cuomo, before backing Adams, until he landed back on Cuomo. (Adams dropped out last month.) In a last-ditch effort, Ackman recently threw $1 million to an anti-Mamdani political-action committee.

But the political counterattack has been flaccid. At one August fundraiser for Adams at Osteria La Baia, a tony midtown Italian restaurant, only a handful of supporters showed, including former Gov. David Paterson.

“I’m feeling terrible,” said an Adams donor there, who has since reluctantly pivoted to Cuomo. The former governor, this person added, “would be a terrible mayor, but compared to Mamdani, he’s Winston Churchill.”

It isn’t as if New York’s wealthiest are all in lockstep. A chunk of the city’s 1% supports Mamdani, voting data show, though a few have expressed fear of losing their jobs or social status for saying so. Other wealthy neighborhoods, such as Brooklyn’s Park Slope, show strong backing for the upstart candidate. [Continue reading…]